Per ricordare Guy Klucevsek (1947-2025) a poche settimane dalla scomparsa Adrienne Cardwell propone per KALW, radio pubblica che serve l'area della Baia di San Francisco, una bella selezione con il Nostro che esegue dal vivo alcuni propri brani assieme ad altri di Henry Cowell, Ramón Sender, William Duckworth, William Obrecht, Jim Hiscott, Arne Nordheim, William Schimmel e Carl Finch: Guy, Won’t You Play Your Accordion?
https://www.otherminds.org/broadcast/831/GuyKlucevsek
Tramite Bandcamp si recupera un bell'inedito di Derek Bailey proposto da Scatter nella consueta - e graditissima - formula a offerta libera: ECA [1992]. Si tratta della registrazione del concerto tenuto in solo all'Edinburgh College of Art il 5 marzo 1992 per iniziativa di Iain Patterson, non nuovo a proporre appuntamenti di musiche altre in Istituto: "As a painting student in the 1960s at Edinburgh College of Art, I helped to organise a three day event of improvised music in 1969 at the ECA College Club - inviting the Spontaneous Music Ensemble (Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, Trevor Watts, Barry Guy and John Stevens), the Instant Composer’s Pool (Peter Brötzmann, Buschi Niebergall and Han Bennink) plus Paul Rutherford’s Iskra and Johnny Dyani. The musicians in the end shared roles, and it became a forerunner of Derek’s idea for Company, which he curated over many years, inviting players of sometimes very different musical backgrounds to explore improvisation with each other in occasionally unorthodox groups. To stage the concerts, we raided the entire SRC funds for that year, and Derek admitted afterwards that (having personally pleaded with the college secretary for more money) it was his best paid gig. Later, on becoming a lecturer in painting at the college, I organised three more concerts of improvised music at ECA. The first was Derek, who played in the College Lecture Theatre, talking to students about improvisation. Later that evening he played a solo concert in the student club - the Wee Red Bar - where this recently discovered audience recording was made."
https://scatterarchive.bandcamp.com/eca-1992
https://daily.bandcamp.com/lists/derek-bailey-album-guide
Torna in circolazione in digitale e in forma leggermente ritoccata il clamoroso progetto Techno mit Störungen che Jon Rose allestì a Wels (Austria) per il festival Music Unlimited l'anno in cui ne fu il curatore artistico, il 1995. Manca qualche minuto rispetto al documento uscito a suo tempo in cd per Plag Dich Nicht, e il flusso musicale - la cui durata reale fu oltre le due ore e mezza - è ora racchiuso in due sole tracce di circa trenta minuti ciascuna. Sufficienti per riportare la memoria ai fatti: "My concept was direct, to set up collisions between distinct methods of music making: technological produced sound would be interfered with by a series of interruptions from instrumentalists and singers. Heard in many Berlin clubs in the 1990s was sequenced dance music - otherwise known as Techno - it seemed that the punters preferred to dance to the machine more than the human… 30 years later where are we, who are we? In the middle of the Music Unlimited festival 1995, there was a bomb alert initiated by some local right wing thugs, the building had to be emptied; Connie Bauer and Evan Parker played on outside surrounded by an enthusiastic crowd.
In Techno mit Störungen, the ‘tech’ was represented by sequenced beats, vinyl record manipulation, CDs, and sampling through the skills of Frank Schulte, Otomo Yoshihide and Christian Marclay: the ‘störungen’ (on stage) by the virtuosity of Connie Bauer - trombone, Jon Rose - violin, Lawren Newton - voice, Phil Minton - voice, Chris Cutler - drums & low grade electronics, Peter Cusack - bouzouki & interactive birds, Iva Bittova - voice, Fred Frith - guitars, Uli Gumpert - piano and organ, Sainkho Namtchylak - voice, Rudi Widerhofer - spoken text, Evan Parker - soprano saxophone, Nick Collins - trombone propelled electronics, Peter Hollinger - drums, Marc Ribot - guitar. And causing disturbances from the audience were members of Laboratorio di Musica & Immagine: Paolo Angeli - bass tuba & voice, Olivia Bignardi - clarinet, Daniela Cattivelli - alto saxophone, Ferdinando D’Andria - trumpet, Silvia Fanti - accordion, Filomena Forleo - piano, Pierangelo Galantino - bass & voice, Salvatore Manu - trombone, Pino Ursu - percussion & voice, Stefano Zozanello - soprano saxophone & flute.
As you can hear, some of the artists preferred to go with the ‘techno’ rather than the ‘störungen’. Franz Brummer was on the mixing desk and made the DAT of this incomplete performance recording (tape ran out). David Humer built the traffic light system by which the sequence of events were organised (sort of). Wolfgang Wasserbauer was and remains the amazing director and energy behind Music Unlimited."
Veryan Weston è invece al fianco di Jon Rose in Tunings & Tunes, uno dei capitoli della loro lunga e fruttuosa esplorazione di scordature, accordature non canoniche, intemperanze e deviazioni dagli standard di melodia e armonia operate con strumenti storici particolari, unici e rari, spesso autentici pezzi da museo concessi per l'occasione. Le registrazioni sono state effettuate a Bruxelles nel 2001 e nel 2005, in situazioni di concerto o dal vivo in studio; le aveva raccolte in cd la slovacca HEyeRMEarS-Discorbie di Nové Zámky, ora sono disponibili in digitale via Bandcamp. Con le note originali di Rose da (ri)leggere da cima a fondo: "More improvisations using differing tunings derived from science, history and the imagination - punctuated by the odd traditional Euro-tune such as La Paloma, Lavotta, Humoresque, Santa Lucia, or the Chupeh Tanz."
Ne esistono due distinte versioni nel Gran Catalogo Westbrook, una del 2020 di Kate in settetto con la Granite Band e una di Mike con la Uncommon Orchestra al completo, dal vivo al Ronnie Scott's londinese nel 2022. Ora è disponibile nero su bianco in una versione predisposta per pianoforte e voce: Says the Duke.
"Says the Duke is not a Blues in any conventional sense. It does not break down into the familiar 12 or 8 bar choruses. In fact the basic ‘chorus’ is 88 bars long. Yet it is faithful to the mood and spirit of the Blues. The lyrics of Says the Duke evoke our memory of the Ellington Orchestra’s final concert in London, at the Rainbow in 1973. Cootie Williams, Paul Gonsalves and Harry Carney were still there and in great form. In our piece there are quotes from the Duke himself, references to his compositions and name-checks for his legendary musicians." (Kate e Mike Westbrook)
https://mikewestbrook.bandcamp.com/says-the-duke-westbrook-songbook
Il lavoro di Louis Philippe, si sa, ha attraversato e sostenuto in mille modi le vicende della él nel breve periodo della sua folgorante avventura; non sorprende perciò che sia proprio con una cinquina di suoi brani - Anthony Bay, Like Nobody Do, Guess I'm Dumb (mais oui, quella di Brian Wilson e Russ Titelman), Touch Of Evil e If You're Missing Someone - che si apre la preziosa collezione The Rubens Room - Él Records: In Camera prodotta da Tapete Records in alleanza e concomitanza con il bel libro di Mark Goodall Bright Young Things-The Art and Philosophy of él Records pubblicato la scorsa primavera dalla tedesca Ventil Verlag. Parimenti presenti nell'album, anche sotto mentite spoglie, sono Anthony Adverse, The King of Luxembourg, Would-Be-Goods, Marden Hill, Bad Dream Fancy Dress, The Monochrome Set, Always, Momus e Simon Fisher Turner. Con le note di copertina scritte appositamente dal protagonista assoluto, Mike Alway, responsabile naturalmente della scelta dei brani: "él was the joy of my life. It was monumental."
Of all the independent record labels of the 1980s, él was the most singular and exciting. él only existed for a few short years and yet paradoxically - given its modest commercial success - was hugely influential. For writer Jonathan Coe, one of the label’s many devotees, él was ‘Britain's great musical secret’. This ‘best of’ compilation LP, curated by label supremo Mike Alway himself, will remind the world of the greatness of él. The secret is out…
https://www.tapeterecords.de/va-the-rubens-room-el-records-in-camera
https://www.ventil-verlag.de/bright-young-things
Questa la scaletta dei brani proposti nello splendido concerto londinese di Louis Philippe con The Night Mail (Andy Lewis, Robert Rotifer, Ian Button), coadiuvati egregiamente da Danny Manners, Dave Gregory e per un paio di brani anche da Rachel Hall: Pictures of Anna, Fall In A Daydream, The Mighty Owl, The Man Who Had It All (con una toccante dedica al compianto Ken Brake), The Wonder Of It All (con il testo scritto da Jonathan Coe, tra l'altro presente in sala), Ville lumière, Watching Your Sun Go Down, Il ne reste plus rien de l'eté, L'aventure, True Love (questi ultimi tre proposti in duo dai soli Philippe e Danny), L'hiver te va bien, Martine, Down By The Riverbank, All At Sea, Wild-Eyed And Dishevelled, Liverpool, Song For Paddy-Wings Of Desire (pensando a Paddy McAloon) e in finale la travolgente She Means Everything To Me. Quello di ieri rimane per ora episodio unico, legato in parte alla promozione del nuovissimo (e altrettanto splendido) The Road To The Sea. Ma c'è speranza!
I brani del nuovissimo The Road To The Sea - e quelli di Thunderclouds, oltre a vari altri tratti dalle precedenti magnifiche collezioni di Louis Philippe - risuoneranno stasera sul palco del Water Rats di King's Cross a Londra, dove a fianco del Nostro ci saranno il trio The Night Mail (Andy Lewis, Ian Button, Robert Rotifer), Danny Manners, Stuart Moxham (con un suo set solista in apertura) e - quasi a sorpresa - Dave Gregory. Qualcun altro, forse?
https://www.facebook.com/events
https://www.thewaterratsvenue.london
https://www.tapeterecords.de/louis-philippe-the-night-mail
Dopo le esperienze collettive con Yugen, Camembert e Loomings, e parallelamente agli altri impegni con Oiapok, The Juke Revue, La Bagatelle du Géant e i crimsoniani FraCKtal, Jacopo Costa si è voluto concentrare anche sulle forme della performance solitaria e provare a convogliar lì le proprie passioni per complesse costruzioni ritmiche e canzoni fuori standard, traducendole in tempo reale con svariate risorse elettroniche e alcune astuzie visive: il progetto, presentato dal vivo con il titolo Electroacoustic Songs, è ora documentato in Teachers and Demons, album pubblicato dall'etichetta belga Off. Lo si rintraccia via Bandcamp, con qualche esempio anche su YT.
https://jacopocosta.bandcamp.com
https://www.youtube.com/@jacopocosta504
Malgré l'indéniable présence de tendances qui peuvent être décrites comme expérimentales au cours de l'histoire du rock, parler de "rock expérimental" en tant que genre musical proprement dit reste problématique. Ce livre discute les approches de musiciens et de groupes qui, tout en étant enracinées dans la tradition du rock, dépassent les frontières - stylistiques mais aussi sociologiques et économiques - propres au rock. L'esthétique musicale de Frank Zappa, du collectif Rock In Opposition (et plus spécifiquement de Henry Cow et Stormy Six) ainsi que du groupe italien Yugen, s'inscrivent dans une même tradition de l'expérimentation, sans pour autant aboutir à des productions similaires du point de vue du style. Par ailleurs, les réflexions, menées par ces artistes, sur les enjeux économiques et sociaux - voire politiques - liés à l'activité de musicien, prouvent que l'expérimentation n'est pas simplement une question d'esthétique. Les recherches de ce livre suivent une approche pluridisciplinaire. Dans un premier temps, il est question de définir les traits constitutifs du rock, au niveau musical, sociologique et économique, et de comprendre dans quelle mesure la notion d'expérimentation a pu s'intégrer au rock au cours de l'histoire. Ensuite, les exemples fournis par Zappa, Henry Cow, Stormy Six et Yugen nous permettront de discuter concrètement l'articulation entre rock et expérimentation, à travers des analyses musicales et la description du positionnement socio-économique de ces artistes.
https://www.editions-delatour.com/le-rock-des-experimentateurs
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Altro contributo a proposito della valenza artistica e socio-politica del Rock in Opposition Jacopo Costa lo ha offerto in occasione del convegno Rock, engagements et émancipations (1950-2020) tenuto a marzo all'Università di Rouen, in Normandia, dove in tre giorni di studio si sono illustrati e messi a confronto aspetti e tematiche che hanno motivato e sostenuto - e tuttora lo fanno, anche in luoghi e tempi di guerra - alcune importanti esperienze di emancipazione culturale e impegno politico nel campo del rock e della musica contemporanea. Lo si può seguire assieme agli interventi degli altri relatori al sito web dedicato.
https://webtv.univ-rouen.fr/rock-engagements-et-emancipations
Prende il via a Parigi presso la Sorbonne Nouvelle la conferenza della IASPM (International Association for the Study of Popular Music) Enregistrer les musiques populaires, con un ciclo di interventi, seminari, presentazione di studi e progetti di ricerca che da oggi a venerdì 11 luglio affronterà i temi legati alla registrazione in campo musicale, tracciandone la storia, l'importanza e l'evoluzione come strumento di documentazione, di diffusione, di produzione e di processo creativo. Nel vasto programma troverà spazio un contributo di Jacopo Costa dedicato all'approccio dei gruppi del nucleo storico del Rock In Opposition allo studio di registrazione come strumento tecnico, artistico e musicale, luogo di specifica creazione estetica quanto anche di interazione sociale, politica ed economica: 'Rock In Opposition: bringing together ideology and aesthetics in the recording studio'.
"À la fin des années 1970, quelques groupes originaires de différents pays européens - parmi lesquels Henry Cow (Angleterre), Etron Fou Leloublan (France), Stormy Six (Italie), Samla Mammas Manna (Suède) et Aksak Maboul (Belgique) - donnèrent vie à Rock In Opposition, un collectif dont les buts étaient l’entraide et la promotion autonome et transfrontalière pour des artistes aux marges de l’industrie musicale, en raison de leurs orientations avant-gardistes mais aussi de leur opposition à l’économie capitaliste. Le collectif défendait notamment l’idée que les modes de création et de production eux-mêmes doivent correspondre à des répères idéologiques d’inspiration marxiste. Par conséquent, et contrairement à d’autres collectifs ou courants artistiques, la réflexion intellectuelle était particulirement développée au sein de Rock In Opposition, résultant par ailleurs en une ré-définition du concept de rock lui-même, où presque toute référence à un style de musique précis est absente, mais qui met l’accent, entre autre, sur «sa relation spécifique avec les technologies de communication modernes: les instruments électroniques e l’amplification, le studio, le disque et la bande, la radio, la production de masse, etc.» (Cutler). Avec cette communication, je me propose d’étudier l’approche des artistes de Rock In Opposition vis-à-vis du studio d’enregistrement. Il sera notamment question d’investiguer comment ces artistes articulent leurs pratiques d’écriture, de performance et d’improvisation, mais aussi leurs positionnements idéologique et esthétiques, dans l’environnement du studio. Cette recherche d’ordre historico-analytique sera basée sur l’ensemble des enregistrement réalisés en studio par les groupes de Rock In Opposition pendant la période d’éxistence du collectif (1978-1982), ainsi que sur plusieurs interviews conduites par moi-même avec différents artistes du collectif et avec Etienne Conod, technicien du son suisse et fondateur du Sunrise Studio de Kirchberg, où la plupart des artistes en question enregistra plusieurs albums."
https://iaspm-paris2025.sciencesconf.org/program
https://iaspmbfe.wordpress.com/iaspm-2025-book_of_abstracts.pdf
Atsuko Kamura fu una delle colonne delle strepitose/strepitanti Mizutama Shōbōdan (ovvero Polka Dot Fire Brigade) a fianco di Tenko, Kayo, Manako e Marume Miyamoto, capaci di suscitar clamore sulla scena giapponese dei primissimi anni Ottanta con eccitate esibizioni dal vivo invero poco contenibili nel formato discografico. I loro due unici album - Otome No Inori Wa Da Da Da! (1981) e Manten Ni Akai Hanabira (1985, prodotto con lo zampino di Fred Frith) - vennero pubblicati in modo indipendente e in quantità limitata dall'etichetta istituita da Tenko, Kinniku-Bijo, diventando ben presto introvabili in originale. Shoh li riprese in una compilazione in doppio cd nel 2001, alterandone un po' la scaletta; oggi tornano alla luce individualmente in vinile per lodevole iniziativa della fiorentina Spittle, che ne accompagna la riedizione con accurato apparato iconografico.
Japan's Mizutama Shobodan ("Polka Dot Fire Brigade") was led by the mononymous Tenko who would subsequently enjoy a long career in the avant-garde, rubbing shoulders with such elite members of the downtown NYC experimental scene as Otomo Yoshihide, John Zorn and future husband Fred Frith. In the early '80s, Tenko's experimentation was deployed in the service of Mizutama Shobodan, a group whose white hot No Wave sound would presage similarly uncompromising acts like Bride of No No, The Scissor Girls and Metalux. The band's chaotic intensity can be heard on two LPs, released independently on Tenko's own label, Kinniku-Bijo. 1981's debut, released shortly after the band's formation, was conceptualized as a reaction to the period's homogenous pop music. The response from Mizutama Shobodan’s five decidedly non-schooled members was a caffeinated mutant art rock that was both fierce and melodic, distinguished by the dual vocals of Tenko and Atsuka Kamura. 1985's A Skyfull of Red Petals, mixed by Frith, was an attempt to better capture the visceral energy of the band's theatrical and notoriously savage live performances. While boasting the same anarchic power as the band's debut, the four year break - during which time Tenko and Kamura released an album by their free-improv vocal duo The Honeymoons - provided the group ample time to progress as a unit. As a result, the musicianship is tighter, arrangements more sophisticated, angles even sharper. Mizutama Shobodan’s two albums were poorly distributed and as a result have remained quite rare and heard by very few; finally, these recordings from the Far East's outer regions can be discovered by discerning listeners everywhere.
Amici, colleghi, conoscenti e ammiratori si ritrovano oggi a Londra per ricordare il compianto Mick Hobbs, a sei mesi dall'improvvisa scomparsa: tra omaggi e commemorazioni ci sarà anche musica dal vivo, con la partecipazione di Tim Hodgkinson, Bill Gilonis, Rick Wilson, Andy Channing - Hobbs fu al loro fianco nei gruppi The Work e The Momes - e inoltre Atsuko Kamura e Dom Weeks. L'appuntamento è dalle 17.00 alle 23.00, presso The Ivy House.
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Quello che per altri era "political, pornographic and anti religious" - e che per questo venne rifiutato - lo pubblicò nel 1984 Recommended Records, con esplicito inserto informativo in forma di collage e note personali di Chris Cutler in forma di lettera ('South Africa as it is Today'). Oggi torna in copia identica in vinile - limitatamente a 500 copie - per iniziativa a Montreuil dell'etichetta Via Parigi: Own Affairs, il primo album completo a nome Kalahari Surfers.
Da Johannesburg ne (ri)racconta la storia l'autore, Warrick Swinney, ovvero Warrick Sony: "This is an album made during a crucial period in South Africa’s history during which there was a palpable feeling of a slow turning towards the collapse of the apartheid state side by side with an increasingly well-organised culture of resistance through the formation of the United Democratic Front (UDF) and various affiliated bodies. However, as a result, there was increased pushback from the state security establishment, a turning to dirty tricks and the formation of hit squads whose members murdered and tortured many of our friends and created chaos throughout South Africa as well as neighbouring countries.
This album is situated in this political environment however it took advantage of the new do-it-yourself music technologies available at that time. Technologies that made it possible to make and release records without interference from traditional record company executives. Two musician friends of mine pooled their resources after their respective bands had broken up. Ivan Kadey (National Wake) and Lloyd Ross (Radio Rats) built an 8-track recording studio control room and fitted it out in a second hand caravan and called it Shifty. They parked it in a garage attached to the only house left in a demolished and derelict mining village near Soweto on the outskirts of Johannesburg.
All the work on this album was completed there, mainly after hours and mostly alone where I enjoyed an exhilarating freedom to develop a whole new set of musical skills and ideas, incorporating my love of a wide range of music I’d grown up with. Influences of 1970s progressive/kraut/and psychedelic rock combined with mbaqanga bass styles, early reggae/dub and Indian tabla rhythms. Stockhausen, early Zappa and Holger Czukay were radio text and shredding influences, and Chris Cutler’s bands Henry Cow and Art Bears helped me see a way to political expression. Mostly though was the exciting post-punk and no-wave music coming through to us from Europe and America: bands like This Heat, Mekons, Raincoats, Sonic Youth and Pere Ubu were immensely important to me as was my reading from the period: J.M.Coetzee’s first 3 novels are strong influences on Free State Fence; the stark landscape, superstition, ritual, and sexual repression are in many of his settings. JG Ballard was a constant presence throughout that period, especially whilst living in such a surreal environment, surrounded by mine dumps, but mostly I think the whole French post-modern philosophical movement - Derrida, Foucault and of course, Baudrillard’s Simulacra and Simulation - set out a new sense of possibilities, possible ways to express oneself, ways to think, and ways to try and analyse the political intersection of public and private life. Most important at that time was the influence of sound recordings I had made and experiences garnered from working as a sound recordist on documentary films. These financed my work and later the studio and were consistent employment throughout the 1980s. Film work also enabled me to experience much of South Africa that was hidden from most. The track Independence Day is a good example; drawn from some time spent in the rural homeland of Venda.
This then was the first full length Kalahari Surfers album, completed in summer of 1984 it was taken to EMI pressing plant but rejected. Chris Cutler at Recommended Records took up the challenge and released the album through his label. He wrote the original liner note."
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Improvvise condizioni di maltempo hanno interrotto lo streaming in diretta dalla cattedrale di San Giorgio di Città del Capo dove si tenevano i funerali del compianto Louis Tebogo Moholo-Moholo. La parte effettivamente trasmessa, con alcuni degli interventi - anche musicali - che si sono susseguiti nel corso della cerimonia di sabato scorso, è ora conservata su YT. Gli omaggi sono poi proseguiti il giorno dopo a Langa in forma di concerto in onore del defunto. Molti certamente ne seguiranno nelle settimane e mesi a venire: primo ad essere annunciato è quello del 27 agosto a Londra, al 100 Club, dove ci saranno tra gli altri Claude Deppa, Alexander Hawkins, Jason Yarde, Evan Parker, John Edwards e Shabaka Hutchings.
Esce finalmente in versione italiana uno dei testi più importanti di Bob Ostertag, Creative Life (University of Illinois Press, 2019), raccolta di saggi e analisi che contengono attente riflessioni su arte d'avanguardia e trasformazioni politiche, denuncia sociale e stereotipi di genere, tecnologia e utilizzo dei media, controllo e repressione, storie di giornalismo d'assalto e militarismo sfrenato in specifiche aree di guerra (El Salvador, Nicaragua, Serbia), oltre che su composizione, improvvisazione, computer music e copyright. I capitoli principali riguardano arte e politica, Centro America e Balcani, queers e drag queens, musica e rivoluzione tecnologica, e c'è anche quel famoso scritto con cui nella seconda metà degli anni Duemila Ostertag accompagnò la diffusione in download gratuito di gran parte delle proprie musiche ('The Professional Suicide of a Recording Musician'). Ne ha meritoriamente curato la pubblicazione per Edizioni Colibrì Giuseppe Aiello, firmando un saggio introduttivo, inserendo aggiornamenti alle note biografiche e discografiche e promuovendo - in accordo con l'autore - il sottotitolo originale a titolo principale: Musica, politica, gente e macchine.
In this eloquent and passionate volume, Bob Ostertag explores the common ground and points of friction among music, creativity, politics, culture, and technology. In terrain ranging from the guerrilla underground in El Salvador's civil war to the drag queen underground in San Francisco and New York, these essays combine journalism and autobiography to explore fundamental questions of what art is and what role it can occupy in a violent and fragmented world, a world in which daily events compromise the universality toward which art strives. Drawing on his intimate engagement with political conflict in Latin America and the Balkans, Ostertag identifies an art of "insurgent politics" that struggles to expand the parameters of the physical and social world. He also discusses his innovative collaborations with major modern performers, filmmakers, and artists around the world. Part memoir, part journalism, and part aesthetic manifesto, Creative Life is a dazzling set of writings from a musical artist who has worked on the cutting edge of new music for thirty years.
https://bobostertag.com
https://www.facebook.com/bob.ostertag
https://www.colibriedizioni.it
Non è nuova, anzi è un po' il segreto di Pulcinella, ma tra i suoi poteri Superman ha anche quel potere. E lo invoca Dave Newhouse, per il Pride 2025. Büszkeség!
Tre nuovi brani strumentali realizzati nei giorni scorsi da Bob Drake con chitarre acustiche a sei e dodici corde, in modo non dissimile da certe sue sessioni in live streaming su Twitch, formano ora un breve album affidato a Bandcamp: Splendens Giganteum.
"An EP featuring a suite of three solo acoustic guitar pieces, developed over the past year. Tracks 1 and 3 are six-string guitar, track 2 is twelve-string. Recorded the 14th, 15th and 16th of June 2025, using a pair of Yasushi Utsunomia's BAROm1 microphones. Written, performed and recorded by BD, I also made the mixed-media cover object."
E' invece pronto e già in distribuzione il libro di Jean-Louis Tallon Terry Riley, figure libre, edito a Marsiglia dall'eccellente Le mot et le reste.
Du compositeur américain Terry Riley, on connaît surtout In C, pièce pionnière de musique répétitive qui, depuis sa création, jouit d’une popularité internationale incontestée. In C est néanmoins l’arbre qui cache la forêt d’une oeuvre immense et plurielle à l’intersection du minimalisme, du jazz, du blues, del’électronique et de la transe, entre orient et occident. Au premier rang, l’album A Rainbow in Curved Air, qui influença notamment Mike Oldfield, Pete Townshend ou Soft Machine, mais également The Harp of New Albion, sans oublier la vingtaine de quatuors à cordes écrits pour le Kronos Quartet depuis 1980. Ainsi dans Terry Riley, figure libre, Jean-Louis Tallon dessine la trajectoire biographique et esthétique d’un compositeur qui occupe aujourd’hui une place fondatrice dans l’histoire de la musique.
https://lemotetlereste.com/musiques/terryriley
Éditions Le mot et le reste
BP 21 13209 Marseille Cedex 20
Tél. communication : 04 91 73 41 88
Tél. éditorial : 04 91 84 09 74
direction@lemotetlereste.com
Non è ancora disponibile - lo sarà tra un paio di mesi - ma anche il semplice annuncio concorre in qualche modo ai festeggiamenti di compleanno del Nostro attualmente in corso: è The Columbia Recordings, box contenente gli album che Terry Riley registrò per l'etichetta newyorkese a cavallo tra gli anni Sessanta e Settanta, ovvero In C (1968), A Rainbow in Curved Air (1969), Church of Anthrax (1971, con John Cale) e successivamente Shri Camel (1980). Lavori innovativi e assai influenti - soprattutto i primi due, divenuti di importanza storica - qui accompagnati da documenti fotografici inediti e da diversi contributi scritti tra cui quelli di protagonisti diretti e testimoni esperti quali David Behrman e Thomas M. Welsh.
A deluxe 4-CD box set bringing together the seminal Columbia recordings of Terry Riley. A landmark reissue from one of the most pivotal figures in 20th-century music. The Columbia Recordings brings together the four seminal albums that Terry Riley created for Columbia Masterworks between 1968 and 1980 - a body of work that redefined the possibilities of minimalism, electronic music, and compositional freedom. Each title marks a critical moment not only in Riley’s evolution but in the wider cultural shift of American music: where avant-garde practice collided with high-fidelity production, and radical sonic ideas met mass distribution. Lovingly remastered and presented with extensive archival material this box set captures Riley at his most transformative, when the pulse of innovation was inseparable from spiritual and sonic exploration. In C alone marked a revolution, influencing contemporaries like Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and La Monte Young, while A Rainbow in Curved Air pointed the way toward ambient, psychedelia, and proto-electronica. Church of Anthrax opened new dialogues between experimentalism and rock, and Shri Camel explored Indian tuning systems through digital delay, yielding one of Riley’s most refined long-form works. In addition to all four complete recordings and rarely seen archival photographs from recording sessions in Columbia’s fabled 30th Street Studios in Manhattan, the box set also includes a 50-page booklet featuring first-hand reflections from David Behrman, the original producer of In C and A Rainbow in Curved Air; and an essay by Thomas M. Welsh, Terry Riley’s longtime manager and archivist; and reprints of all essays and notes from the original vinyl releases. Released as Riley approaches his 90th birthday, The Columbia Recordings is not just a retrospective, but a celebration of music’s power to build new worlds - and to change the one we live in.
Compie oggi novant'anni il grande Terry Riley, e dopo i festeggiamenti londinesi del mese scorso - con l'ensemble Band on a Can in formazione regolare ed estesa alle prese con i super-classici A Rainbow in Curved Air e In C - anche New York si appresta a celebrare l'evento con uno speciale concerto in programma questa sera al Roulette, dove saranno eseguiti il recentissimo The Holy Liftoff nella versione per solo flauto di Claire Chase e nuovamente In C con gran numero di musicisti coinvolti (più di una quarantina). Domani invece sarà la volta del Kronos Quartet, che è riuscito a convincere il compositore a raggiungerli a Kanagawa da Yamanashi, sua residenza da qualche anno, per presenziare alla prima esecuzione in Giappone dello splendido Sun Rings, ciclo multimediale in parte commissionato dalla Nasa per quartetto d'archi, coro, immagini e suoni captati dallo spazio concessi dal Dipartimento di fisica e astronomia dell'Università dell'Iowa. Auguri, Maestro!
https://thebluemoment.com/rainbows-for-terry-riley
https://roulette.org/terry-riley-90th-birthday-in-c-the-holy-liftoff
https://kronosquartet.org/yokohama-japan-3
Nelle intenzioni di allora la serie doveva comprendere 10 LP con ciascun lato di ciascun vinile dedicato a un diverso autore americano di fama e di prestigio nel proprio ambito musicale, puntando per ogni abbinamento all'effetto della differenza e del contrasto esaltati dallo straniamento del metodo Residents. Ci si attendevano Harry Partch e Harry Nilsson, Ray Charles e Sun Ra, Smokey Robinson e Bob Dylan, Charles Ives e Stevie Wonder, Catptain Beefheart, Moondog e Barry White, Scott Joplin e Brian Wilson. Invece per vari motivi - non ultimi il rivoluzionario avvento del compact disc e l'improvvisa scomparsa nel 1987 di Philip Charles Lithman, cioè Snakefinger - il progetto si fermò dopo solo due volumi, protagonisti George Gershwin e James Brown (George & James, 1984) e John Philip Sousa e Hank Williams (Stars & Hank Forever, 1986). La collezione retrospettiva pREServed li raccoglie ora entrambi assieme a un buon numero di ulteriori brani rivisti, ritoccati, decomposti/ricomposti, inediti o poco utilizzati: The Residents' American Composers Series.
Feeling burned out on underground epics after the disastrous Mole Show tour, The Residents decided to postpone work on Part Three of the Mole Trilogy. But they needed a project, and Ralph Records said they had to make some money, an all but foreign concept for a band both lauded and dismissed for its doggedly uncommercial approach to the music business. Typically, after a brief period of reflection, the group decided to go in two directions, both familiar, but in different ways. In retrospect, it was no surprise that The Residents moved back toward the comfort and success they had achieved reinterpreting the music of other composers but, unexpectedly, the new project was in some ways even more extravagant than the overly ambitious Mole Trilogy. Taking the Residential concept of "music about music" to its logical extreme, the band threw itself into a serious, long-term project grandiosely titled The American Composers Series.
Essentially, the concept was a musical exploration of various American composers, two at a time, juxtaposing one against the other, with each featured on opposite sides of an LP. The band would first deconstruct the music then rebuild it around the Residential values of naivete, atonal innocence and playful pretense. By breaking break down the mythology surrounding the celebrated composers and reducing the music to its essence, The Residents purposefully created the lofty goal of imposing their own Theory of Obscurity on other famous musicians. Satisfied with their new direction, the group then announced a goal of interpreting twenty different composers on ten albums over a period of sixteen years, from 1984 to 2001. The first album, George & James, interpreted the music of George Gershwin and James Brown. The band followed this with John Philip Sousa and Hank Williams on Stars & Hank Forever. Audaciously appropriating the intro of Michael Jackson's Billie Jean, the band released a single based on Williams's 'Kaw-Liga," which shockingly sold in the six figures, making The American Composers Series a huge financial success for The Residents. The third album in the series was tentatively titled The Trouble with Harrys, featuring the music of Harry Partch and Harry Nilsson, but The Residents unexpectedly abandoned the project in 1986. As LPs lost sales to CDs, the music business was changing; in addition, despite the success of Kaw-Liga, music publishing rights - the fees paid to composers - were getting more expensive. Meanwhile it took longer to record CDs, which held 50-75% more music than LPs, and finally, part of the charm of series was its juxtaposition of one composer against another, a non-existent feature on one sided CDs. In addition the sales of Ralph's other groups were poor. Consequently, the answer to this losing equation was touring so The Residents reluctantly ended the American Composers series and turned their efforts to Cube-E, arguably, their most successful tour.
https://residents.com
https://meettheresidents.fandom.com
https://www.cherryred.co.uk
Per l'editrice tedesca Wolke, responsabile di eccellenti pubblicazioni sui maggiori autori storici e contemporanei del free jazz e dell'improvvisazione, è pronto ora anche nella versione in lingua inglese il libro Dynamic Vibrations-Played with Hands and Feet - uscito come Dynamische Schwingungen nel 2021- che raccoglie in modo tematico, aperto e creativo un ampio numero di composizioni e riflessioni di Sven-Åke Johansson, con varietà di suoi testi, materiali, strutture poetiche, interviste, aforismi, progetti, schizzi e disegni. La preparazione del prezioso volume è frutto del lavoro di Thomas Groetz e Bastian Zimmermann condotto assieme allo stesso Johansson.
Sven-Åke Johansson steht einzigartig da in einer Zwischenposition zwischen Free Music, klassischem Swing-Jazz, Experiment, Komposition, Music Performance, musikalischem Bühnenspiel, Sprach-/Sprech-/Singkunst und bildender Kunst. Das vorliegende Buch ist eine umfangreiche Zusammenstellung nicht nur der Kompositionen und der realisierten sowie nicht realisierten Konzepte, sondern auch der erläuternden Zeichnungen, der Skizzen und vielseitigen Texte des 1943 in Mariestad geborenen schwedischen Musikers. Da in seiner künstlerischen Praxis die Grenzen zwischen den einzelnen Gattungen fließend sind, wurde auf eine Schwerpunktbildung unterschiedlicher Textsorten verzichtet. Während sich Johanssons Musik zwischen akustischen Readymades, Bruitismus, Solostücken, freien Formationen, Jazz-Combos und Musiktheater auffächert, ist auch einem Großteil seiner Texte schwerlich eine abgezirkelte Identität zuzuschreiben; so sind Werktexte, die Kompositionen und Konzepte erläutern, zugleich eigensinnige sprachpoetische Formungen. Lyrik und Aphorismen haben sich zu Liedtexten entwickelt, aber auch andersherum: Stimmliche Deklamationen, die im instrumentalen Instant Composing auftauchen, finden eine fixierte Form als eigenständige Poesie. Die lebendige Durchmischung aus unterschiedlichem Material, die dieses Buch anbietet, wird jedoch nicht ungeordnet, sondern in thematischen Verklammerungen präsentiert. Das Buch ist ein Künstlerbuch und ein kuratierter Materialband, eine umfangreiche Dokumentation der Kompositionen und musikalischen Konzepte sowie der relevanten Texte von Sven-Åke Johansson. Hinzu kommen eine Reihe von Interviews, die nicht nur seinen eigenwilligen Denk- und Sprachduktus abbilden, sondern vielfältige Erläuterungen zu einem Großteil der im Buch enthaltenen Kompositionen und Stücke bereitstellen.
https://www.wolke-verlag.de/dynamic-vibrations
https://www.wolke-verlag.de/dynamische-schwingungen
https://www.wolke-verlag.de/johan_inhalt.pdf
https://www.facebook.com/wolkeverlag
Luogo principale dove cercare e rinvenire notizie e documenti riguardanti l'intensissima attività in campo musicale e artistico del compianto Sven-Åke Johansson (1943-2025) è senz'altro il SÅJ Archiv, aggiornato e ricco di riferimenti a pubblicazioni, mostre, performance di varia natura, lavori per la radio, per il cinema e per il teatro musicale, con recensioni, poster, vari scritti e gallerie fotografiche. La produzione musicale è proposta in ordine cronologico inverso con singole schede informative da cui si può procedere all'acquisto di copie in LP o CD eventualmente disponibili in formato fisico. Per il formato digitale è invece quasi d'obbligo rivolgersi a Bandcamp, dove sono presenti innumerevoli opere inedite, rare, semi-ufficiali e fuori catalogo.
Per orientarsi si possono seguire le indicazioni di Martin Schray, così come suggerite tramite The Free Jazz Collective: "Sven-Åke Johansson’s oeuvre is full of outstanding music, music that has helped to define improvised music in the last 60 years. For Adolphe Sax (BRÖ / FMP 1967) and Machine Gun (BRÖ 1968 / FMP 1972) belong to the European free jazz canon. His duo recordings with Alexander von Schlippenbach on FMP are superb: if you ask me I would choose Live at The Quartier Latin (1976), Kung Bore (1978), Drive (1981) and most of all Live 1976/77 (2001). His duo with saxophonist/clarinetist/accordionist Rüdiger Carl shows a different musical side of him,“Intermezzo für zwei Akkordeons“ on Fünfundreissigvierzig (FMP, 1986) is folk music in a weird and wonderful sense. With Schlippenbach, Carl and Jay Oliver on bass he recorded jazz classics, another one of his unexpected interests. Night and Day (FMP, 1985) is pure joy and a bow to the classics of the genre. A lesser known album is E.M.T.’s Canadian Cup Of Coffee (FMP/SAJ, 1974) with Alfred Harth on saxophones and clarinets and Nicole van den Plaas on piano, a very beautiful and humorous recording. The Bergisch-Brandenburgisches Quartet with Hans Reichel, Rüdiger Carl and Ernst Ludwig Petrowsky Free Postmodernism - BBQ with Fred Frith - USA, 1982 (SAJ, 2020) was only released a few years ago, but especially this album is a great discovery from the wild and outer fringes of free jazz at the beginning of the 1980s. Of his newer releases, Stumps (Ni-Vu-Ni-Connu, 2022) with Pierre Borel on sax, Axel Dörner on trumpet, Joel Grip on bass, and Simon Sieger on piano is worth being mentioned. For each track the “Stumps“ theme is repeated four times, forward then backward, a typical Johansson idea. Also, Rotations (Trost, 2025), his trio with Ignaz Schick (turntables) and Franz Hautzinger (trumpet) is a nice summary of Johansson’s interest in sound exploration. Finally, I’ve always liked his collaboration with Jan Jelinek, maybe because it’s very unusual for the man’s music (then again, the word “unusual“ does not really fit for Johansson’s art). Puls-Plus-Puls Edition Moers (Moers Record Store Schallplatten, 2021) is my favorite of the two albums they released."
http://www.sven-akejohansson.com
https://saj-rec.bandcamp.com
La sua pubblicazione era annunciata e già prevista ufficialmente tra un mese, ora diventa ancor più urgente e necessaria: è la registrazione inedita del concerto che Larry Stabbins, Keith Tippett e Louis Moholo-Moholo tennero a Foggia al Conservatorio di Musica 'Umberto Giordano' il 23 novembre 1985, a tre anni esatti dalle esplosive sessioni del 1982 al Total Music Meeting di Berlino documentate in Tern. L'iniziativa è della Ogun: Live in Foggia.
It's sad to know that Louis won't be around to see the release of this CD. But it acts as a tribute to the master drummer and is a powerful record of his ability, sensitivity and listening in a context that constantly throws up new posers for all three. The album will be released on July 25th, but you can pre-order now. Recorded in Italy in 1985, this is a valuable record of a unique trio playing at the very top of their game. Larry Stabbins, after years of playing with many of the greatest improvising musicians of the 60s and 70s (John Stevens, Chris McGregor, Keith Tippett, Mike Westbrook, Tony Oxley etc) had recently exploded onto the pop world with the bands Weekend and Working Week and was quite famous in Italy. Not to be outdone, Louis Moholo-Moholo turned up to this gig in full ‘warpaint’ and all three play like the clappers. Both Louis and Keith are in their prime here, and the level of playing by all three is off the scale.
Tra i primi a ricordare pubblicamente Louis Moholo ci sono Richard Williams e Mike Westbrook, rispettivamente in The Blue Moment ('The Last of the Blue Notes') e in WestbrookJazz Notice Board ('Blue Notes for Moholo'), e con loro anche Steve Beresford, Alexander Hawkins, Roberto Ottaviano, Riccardo Bergerone, Annie Whitehead, Luciano Rossetti, Marcello Lorrai, Martin Schray, Olie Brice e Noël Akchoté, ciascuno tramite le proprie reti e i propri contatti. E c'è soprattutto il comunicato dei famigliari ('Family Statement on the passing of Tebogo Louis Moholo-Moholo: 13 June 2025'), messo in circolazione con una nota di gratitudine per quanti stanno ovunque rendendo omaggio al compianto 'Bra Tebza'.
"It is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing of our beloved Tebogo Louis Moholo-Moholo, who departed this world on Friday, 13 June 2025, at the age of 85, after being ill for a few years. ‘Bra Louis’ as he was affectionately referred to was born on 10 March 1940 in Langa in Cape Town, South Africa. He is considered as one of the most important jazz drummers in South Africa, known for his contribution in furthering and developing the form of free jazz. He is respected throughout the world through his time in exile in London and through playing with the iconic jazz group The Blue Notes.
Louis was more than a pioneering musician - he was a mentor and a friend. As a drummer, composer, and fearless voice for artistic freedom, Louis inspired generations through his groundbreaking contributions to South African and global jazz. From the townships of Cape Town to the stages of London and beyond, his rhythms spoke of resistance, liberation, and the boundless power of creativity. He was the last surviving member of The Blue Notes, a group that courageously took their music into exile during apartheid, and became a beacon for cultural expression and solidarity through jazz. His artistry and spirit were not just heard, but felt deeply across the world.
We are grateful for the love and support that has already begun to pour in from across the globe. Louis’ life was a gift to all who knew him and to all who felt the impact of his music. Further details regarding funeral arrangements will be shared in due course."
Il genio artistico e le vicende umane di Brian Wilson sono state raccontate più e più volte in dichiarazioni, interviste, libri e film, con reperti di valore confusi in una messe di documenti apocrifi, testimonianze parziali e spesso malevole, biografie (e autobiografie) incomplete o reticenti. Molto altro di certo seguirà, ma intanto - dopo Beautiful Dreamer e due versioni di God Only Knows - torna a dire la sua il super esperto David Leaf, concentrandosi sull'opus magnum Smile, per Omnibus Press. Sottotitolo: The Rise, Fall & Resurrection of Brian Wilson.
Drawing upon the author’s in-depth interviews with Brian, his collaborator Van Dyke Parks, Brian’s band (especially Darian Sahanaja), close friends, family, and so many others who were part of the trip, David Leaf tells how Brian Wilson rose to greatness, almost fell off the edge of the earth, then unexpectedly came back to reclaim his place as one of the most influential musicians of the twentieth century. There are two Beach Boys narratives. One is about a family band and their greatest hits, an amazing body of work the group primarily recorded between 1962 and 1966. Those records, composed, arranged and produced by Brian Wilson, have brought joy to the world for over six decades. This book is the other story.
In molti hanno rincorso per anni, e spesso inutilmente, Smile. Per poi rincuorarsi con Orange Crate Art. Amando sempre e soprattutto Pet Sounds. Come lui per primo, Brian Wilson: "I love the whole Pet Sounds record. I got a full vision out of it in the studio. After that, I said to myself that I had completed the greatest album I will ever produce. I knew it. It was a spiritual record. I wanted to grow musically, to expand our horizons and do something that people would love, and I did it."
A tu per tu con Susan Alcorn spese a suo tempo un piacevole pomeriggio Eugene Chadbourne, come risulta dalle registrazioni di An Afternoon in Austin... or Country Music for Harmolodic Souls, uscite nel 2002 in un cd (ora assai raro) prodotto a Woodstock dall'etichetta Boxholder Records, la stessa che pubblicò anche i due omaggi a Doug Sahm - ma anche a Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Ernest Tubb e Malvina Reynolds - di Chadbourne con Alcorn in quartetto e quintetto. Quelle sessioni texane, all'epoca tra le sue preferite, il Nostro le stampò successivamente in proprio e le distribuì a modo suo in due cd-r come Texasock. Dentro un calzino.
https://eugenechadbourne.com/susan-alcorn-ec-afternoon-austin
Dedicato a Susan Alcorn è anche l'album che Mike Cooper ha appena pubblicato per Room40, Eternal Equinox, una decina di brani registrati a Valencia l'anno scorso in affascinante equilibrio tra improvvisazione e composizione: "These pieces started out as simple improvisations on my virtual pedal steel inspired by the compositions of Kevin Good played by pedal steel guitar player Matt Sargent on their record Trails. Simple melodic minimalistic pieces. Eventually as I listened back to my improvisations other textures and timbre suggested themselves and more complex compositions came to light."
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